Monday, December 11, 2017

Stälker – Shadow of the Sword

New Zealand’s Stälker is a new find from
the ever-popular Napalm Records. These guys play raw, rough, and dirty speed
metal. While their cover art might have you thinking of cleaner modern bands,
Stälker finds themselves in an interesting position between having the
precision and songwriting chops of these bands, but the production and attitude
of less polished groups. This entire album feels like the band is just
completely going for it: lots of shredding, wild high-pitched screams, and a
general tendency to fly off the handle. Nowhere is this more evident than in
the raging opener, “Total Annihilation”, which features some of the most
brilliantly catchy speed metal around.

Stälker being a 3-piece is an interesting
choice, as it has a two-pronged effect on “Shadow of the Sword”. The first is
that there isn’t a lot of harmonized guitars, as the band would obviously be
unable to replicate this live. For this particular sound, harmonization is often a
big selling point, but it is the more aggressive side of the band that carries
them despite a lack of killer harmonies. The other side of this, however, is
the fact that it allows the bass to stick out often. Nearly every track has
several killer bass licks, and at times, it’s hard to believe that the band’s
low end is provided by the same guy who is shrieking his guts out.

As you might imagine, the sheer speeds that
the band often reach result in some thrashier moments. Early Razor is an apt
comparison, as the bands both enjoy utilizing more simplistic,
NWOBHM-influenced riffing at tempos that are off the charts. Stälker tends to
utilize more basic choruses, comprised mainly of shouts of the title. The
result is that each song is easy to sing along to even on a first listen, and
most of them won’t leave your head for a while. “Shocked To Death” marks the
obvious example, but nearly every track shares the same enthusiasm and
straightforwardness.

Towards the end of the record, Stälker
covers one of the most covered songs in metal history: Death’s “Evil Dead”.
Their rendition shows just how brilliant this song is because it works as well
as a speed metal song as it does a death metal track. It seems like the band’s
vocalist does go for some harsher, more drowned out vocals in the verses, but
like most choruses on the record, he tears out his voice hitting the highest
notes possible. The end result is yet another great cover of this masterpiece
song! Overall, “Shadow of the Sword” is an impressive offering from a new band. There
are no bad songs on this album; just songs that are better than others. Despite
all of the bands playing this style, Stälker does feel just a little bit
different from the others, and that makes “Shadow of the Sword” an immediate
winner!